Friday, 28 November 2014

I've been without a voice the whole week due to having the flu. I think I've never sounded this ridiculous. Or well, I didn't really sound like anything at all.

Honey water for a sore throat is a classic. I heard that the combination of honey and cinnamon makes a good antibacterial-cokctail and and blended those with other flu-classics like heaps of fresh ginger and lemon and, of course, hot water. I've had several liters of this (and so does Dag, in a more diluted version).

It was also pretty nice to let half a glass of this soak over night and then filling the glass up with orange juice from the fridge in the morning.

Thursday, 27 November 2014

It's the official party season. (Which for me is more of a work season; no time for parties.) All display windows ad billboards fill up with black and gold and red and glittery sparkly things for the season. Well, it's Christmas all year round in many ways for me (not just the lights here and there) as the amount of sparkly stuff I nowadays have to drape myself in is, well, a lot. For all the obvious reasons.

I was blinging up an old pair of shoes for a show, but, this is of course something you can do without having to strut with them on stage in. You may remember my tip from some years back about attaching jewellery to a pair of heels? Another quick and easy way to bling a pair of shoes up is to use some rhinestones and glue and TA-DA, instant party shoes!

I normally use a fabric glue that is still elastic when it hardens but as the shoes I decided to pimp up are made of (faux) patent leather I used hot glue and pre-glued rhinestones instead. Because theses are for a themed act I put the bling on to resemble daisies. (I also made a glitter surface on the sole but we'll get back to that in another post.)

Be sure to clean the shoes before you start. The smaller rhinestones were pre-glued and came in lines (from Tiger) which made this an easy task. Otherwise I use a chrystal pen or a pair of tweezers to grab and place the pieces. Remember to be quick if you work with hot glue as it dries instantly - for bigger stones it's easy but for smaller ones that you might want to add in a formation (a line like here) I'd suggest another kind of glue that takes a little longer to dry. Haberdashery stores also sell rhinestones on a string, which would work nicely for this - the price per meter is high but you will not need so much for a pair of heels so it's doable.

And then it's just on with the heels and off to shine and sparkle!
(and yes I know, my working space is a mess as I, in my usual manner, am working on too many things at once...)

Monday, 24 November 2014

I know it has not really begun yet * although it is just around the corner, and we had the first little hint of snow now, so I did a little cheating and hung up the first Christmas lights at home already! November is so dark anyway, but I did wait with the stars and advent lights so far though. Plus, I have different led-and fairy lights at home all year round so in some ways I sort of have a Christmas all the time (much to the joy of my husband).*) other than in all the stores, everywhere, right after Halloween as usual and apparently, as I heard, at Ikea already in October...

Then, because I had some extra banans hanging around (they sometimes tend to do that, become extras that just stay there and turn way too dark all of a sudden) I baked a chocolate-banana cake. Vegan. It was good. Had it wit the first glögg (mulled wine/glühwein. Altough -yes really- this was the wine free version. More like spiced warm juice really) of the year to go along. And as I was in the pre-Christmas mood I put some gingerbread spices in the cake too. Muy bueno. We can have a closer look on the how-to some other time.

I have said it before, I really am a Christmas person. The Holidays could last for at least a month and a half for all that I care. Well it usually does, as we seldom manage to get the Christmas tree out before the end of January. Ehrm. But mostly I am a "Christmas person" on the inside - for the past decade I have always been so busy I never manage to do that whole cal-getting-in-the-mood-and-relax-thing, where I have lights and candles and tingling everywhere and bake and make goodies for weeks and make and sew presents to all of my friends and family (one year I actually did, but that was a long time ago). It's more the thought of it I suppose, the same with the thought of autumn where I always wear knits and scarves and go out on walk in colourful crispy cold woods and come back home and drink cocoa. That which I have done perhaps once the last five years. Perhaps. As with most other things and times and seasons in life, it comes surprisingly fast and is over before you know it. This year will be no different as I have lots of shows to do and classes to teach ahead of me still, and producing no less than two events within two weeks. But then I will try my best to take it easy and bake and prepare and all that and plan, make and shop gifts; I do love to hand out presents!

Speaking of which. This one here is mainly for my readers in Finland; a little hint if you plan to do some, or even some more of your Christmas shopping online, one that I had almost forgotten about myself but that comes in handy this time of year - do so via Ostohyvitys! Sign up and shop. This of course applies to all your purchases all year round as well, as you get various discounts (money refunded to your bank account) at most major online stores, both Finnish and international ones such as Apple Online store & iTunes, asos, cdon, Finnish Design Shop and The Body Shop to name a few, as well as at various smaller speciality stores, when you shop via the site. That, and discounts on many services and on magazine-subscriptions and at several travel companies etc. The system is very smart and it is easy to use - log in and then navigate to the store you want to make a purchase from and receive the discount in euros to your bonus account (and later to your bank account ). Well, as I do very little shopping nowadays I have forgotten to use the service the times I have actually bought something, so this serves as a good reminder for myself as well!

And ahoy! As a reader of my blog you will now get a 10euro gift card to use at any of the S-group stores (S-ryhmä) when you sign up and make your first purchase at any of the stores and services via the site (within 90 days).
Sign up here for more info and in order to receive the gift card: Ostohyvitys / S-ryhmän lahjakortti

Disclaimer: nothing in this post is in any way sponsored or paid for by Ostohyvitys but I am part of their affiliate network and can thus offer you the chance of to receive the gift card.

Friday, 21 November 2014

More art posts coming up!
-because we need more art in our lives, more art on our walls, and art should be easily accessible.

Those were the thoughts of two of my friends, comic artist, illustrator and gallerist Aiju Salminen and producer Saara Konttinen, who thus opened up their own gallery. Online. They wanted to make a gallery with art by contemporary artists, a gallery that would not be the kind that you might dread stepping into, but accessible by anyone anywhere and with art that could be described as strange and fun and easy to approach. So Tabulaland was born. I’ve said it before, I love it when I see talented people I know have a great idea and are able to make it happen just the way they want it!

So what to put on my wall then? Let's look at a few different works.

Ilkka Luttinen: Graveyeard, oil on canvas (300x197cm)

Sami Viljanto: What Would George Lazenby Do? Poster.

Suvi Aarnio: Brainwashed. Stichwork.

Katri Sipiläinen: Snall as Blood, water-colour on paper.

Tabulaland is both an online gallery and art store with the occasional real life pop-up exhibition here and there, that exhibits and sells art by both underground artist and already well established ones. The gallery covers pieces from big paintings to sketches and tattoo flash art. Prices in the shop ranges from 20 euros to over 8k, so there is indeed something for everyone.

I don't own any pieces from Tabulaland but I do have the I See tall, Dark Art! -Tabulaland T-shirt made by Aiju.

The store and gallery has been up and running for about two months now and an international version of the site (in English) will be available soon.

In honour of the launch of the international site being just around the corner I have the chance to give away a signed art print of Saara Salmi’s limited edition work done exclusively for Tabulaland; the Revelation of Paula!

To enter the give away visit Tabulaland.com and leave me a comment on this post, telling me which piece from Tabulaland you would like to have on your wall. Or which piece is your favourite - when it comes to art I often find I like many pieces without necessarily being able to picture me having it on my own walls or in the house.

Note that if you do not have a site or account linked trough your signature you must be sure to leave me your contact details so I can readh you.
I will draw the winner randomly on the last of this month; November 30!

(On a side note, my skirt is made by me and the shiny heart shoes are by Frollein von Sofa).

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

My friend Nadja has once more honoured me as motif in her series of stencil paintings.
This one is inspired by images from my Chloris shoot with Asko, who also happens to be her fiancé (yes they are a true power duo!). I appeared in one of Nadja's earlier stencil work last year, which you can see here, for example.

Saturday, 15 November 2014

Woke up to a slow grey November morning.
Look at my plant btw. It's grown over 3 metres long during this autumn! It's called doftranka in Swedish and tuoksuköynnös in Finnish but I don't know the English name -it has white flowers that smell very sweet and I'm hoping it would bloom next spring; last year it didn't.

Beautiful dew-drops on the porch plants.

Made a porridge on our homegrown organic oats with pomegranate and banana plus an anti-flu smoothie with red oranges, pineapple, wineberries, lots of organic ginger and cilantro.

Then Dag (and all his animals) got a quick bath.

And now it's on with our clothes and heading to the harbour and hopping on the ferry to Sweden tonight for a family trip!

Thursday, 13 November 2014

I made myself a skirt out of a soft and stretchy sweatpants fabric that probably was meant for sport gear or so as it has a somewhat shiny surface. Well, shiny surface = fancy skirt so this is one of those 'HAH! I fooled the universe'-pieces of clothing.
Or, almost, because then the universe fooled me a little bit by making me lazy and putting in an elastic waist band instead of a zipper & hook/button fastening when in fact I did not cut the skirt with that much extra to make it easily pulled over my hip . So it is not so comfy to get into but comfy once it's on. I figured as I only have to squeeze twice per day to get in and out of it, or perhaps four times if I got to the gym, I can live with it.

The skirt is cut in something between a half circle and a 3/4 circle skirt. The shoes are old Minna Parikka's and yes, I am wearing checks again because that is clearly the theme for this autumn!

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Dag has for some time been approaching, and now definitely reached the age that most parents recognise; when he needs to try and do absolutely everything himself.

It is heartbreakingly adorable but can also be highly annoying at the same time, in those moments when you are in a hurry or really need to get things done.

Having two bigger (half-)brothers that are a lot older than him of course also pushes it, because he wants to do everything the same way. Plus the huge need to HELP MOMMY.

Dag wants to use a knife while eating. He has been eating with a big fork a long the time since he does not want to be the only one with a spoon in the table and baby cuttleries is hard to hand to him when the whole family is dining. THE BIG ONE. (I can then have the tiny fork.) But he's quite skilful around the kitchen already so he can handle a lot. (He actually managed to peel some clementines rather well the other day. And once he had done one he wouldn’t stop. TO MOMMY he says and pushes a whole one , warm and rather well worked-on, inside my mouth so he can go on peeling a new one for himself.)

And then he's cleaning the table. When I was washing walls and doors the other day it wasn’t as successful as the floors were very wet after him “helping out”.

And when we go grocery shopping he has to, really has to, put everything in his little cart himself. The whole world will fall apart if I am the one to put it down or even. god forbid, put it in my cart.
Well as a parent you develop lots of ways to innocently trick your child, and so I have developed a system for secretly moving some items into my cart as we shop along. Altough sometimes he outsmartens me too, as surprising and random things might show up at the cashier.

But shopping - he has a lion-cap that he shopped himself! ("The Lion Cap" has to be said with a rrrroaring sound when you say LION.) Sort of. We were at the mall doing some errands when Dag showed me he wanted to visit this one accessory shop. Um, OK. Then and went right to one shelf an pointed at the lion cap and said THAT ONE. I was not raised as a child that got everything I pointed at, and so will Dag be, but in this case I had to give him the hat that he surprisingly enough must have spotted earlier and remembered!

As it was father’s day yesterday (over here) I will end this post with a pic of me and my father thirty years ago. Like Dag (or, Gad as he says) in a mini dirndl!

Thursday, 6 November 2014

Our bedroom, especially the far back corner of it, had turned into something that seemed beyond ever being able to look good and organised again. We had had something of a big nursing table-drawer for when Dag was a baby in the room, that stored his clothes and such, and that stuff and boxes and clothes kept piling up upon. It was black like the windows but never really looked good in the room even without all the extra toppings. One day I was out in the tiny forest behind our building playing with Dag and looking up towards the windows I thought "look at that one window with all the crap in it!". Then I looked again and noticed it was ours. Oh, damn.
The nursing table left by time and got a drawer for all the extra stuff. I liked it but I am however not sure what I was measuring when I got it as it turned out it was a couple of centimetres too high, hitting just under the window but above the window sill. Things like that annoy me more that it probably should. Also, it broke my rule of trying to keep all the shades of wood in a room in the same hue; this one was lighter than my dressing table and String shelf. But all in all it looked fresh and kept my extras away. So Ta-Da! along with getting the rest of the flat in order the two years of not-really-wanting-to-invite-people-over was about to be over!

Well, my youngest sister and hubby moved to a new house and when we went to visit she was annoyed that the vintage drawer they had got from an auction site did not fit the room they had intended it for, a room with a mint-green and white diamond checked wallpaper. She offered it to us but I had just got that new one for myself. Turns out she had been looking at that same piece online as well... Their vintage drawer was a bit lower and longer than my piece, while the lighter one I had would suit their room better. So, we ended up switching furniture and they both sit rather perfectly where they are now! Everyone is happy!

The drawer is in the same shade of wood as the rest of wooden items the room, and actually has a little more space, so it turned out a good deal.

The checked chest stores my summer/winter dresses off-season. As one basically only needs to put things in and out of it about twice a year even I manage to do so and keep it neat. And although I am the kind of person who should never store anything in boxes (as once I put something into a box, it most likely stays there. Or, then once taken out, won't find it's way back in) I keep the rest of the extras -hair pieces, hats and rollers etc. -in boxes. And so far I have actually managed to use them properly. In fact, lately I have even been remembering tools and utensils and such that we have stored in the basement, that formerly used to be just a place where things would go to die. Now who says you can't teach an old dog to sit?

Old cats you don't have to teach anything. They will lie wherever they want anyway.

Saturday, 1 November 2014

Here's a little silly instagram video of this month's manicure that I forced my dear husband to film.
Note that is has extra zombie-moster sound effects in the background improvised by my two-year old son. Family project!

I have tried out a couple of different shades of a colour changing gel polish this fall (not at home, at my salon) and I am excited like a child about how my nails shift in hues and colour (darker when cold and lighter/brighter when warm)! Variation for the win. This manicure in honour of Halloween goes from a sparkly red to a sparkly purplish-black.

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About life on the burlesque stage and behind my mac. I do design, pilates and red lips, enjoy wine and beautiful dresses, am fond of high heels and fancy hair, monkeys and seamen. I love rautalanka, my cats and my car. And most of all my little Dag and my Eddi. And I don't think anyone should take themselves too seriously!. This blog is about a little bit of everything actually, mainly the good stuff. To contact me send mail to: freelancersfashion@gmail.com but do note that I am not interested in taking "guest posts" or any other form of advertising anything for free. Read the "Please Note" section under the header first.